


Guardian (A Defender, Protector, or Keeper)

by writing_as_tracey



Series: Role Models [1]
Category: Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types
Genre: Adults being actual Adults, Bullying (mentioned), Gen, Irondad, May Parker (Spider-Man) & Tony Stark Coparenting Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, high school stuff, no beta we die like men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2020-12-06
Packaged: 2021-03-10 03:21:36
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,270
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27917428
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/writing_as_tracey/pseuds/writing_as_tracey
Summary: Peter arrives at the Compound with a black eye. Tony doesn’t understand why he feels so angry, but he decides to Do Something About It.Or, how Tony became Peter's secondary guardian.
Relationships: May Parker & Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Role Models [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2050815
Comments: 32
Kudos: 816





	Guardian (A Defender, Protector, or Keeper)

**Author's Note:**

> The first foray into the fandom, although I've done a bit of dabbling with an Iron Man x HP crossover. Be kind!

Guardian (A Defender, Protector, or Keeper)

* * *

When Peter walked into the lab that Friday, Tony didn’t immediately notice because he had his back to the door, hunched over one of his projection tables, and was intensely focused on the soldering iron he had in one hand and the piece of the Iron Spider suit he was upgrading in the other.

“Well, don’t just stand there, Pete, pull up,” the man called when Peter hesitated, just briefly.

“Okay, Mr. Stark.”

And then Peter was beside him, on his _left_ , which was weird, because Peter normally went to the right, especially when there was a soldering iron; it was enough that Tony put everything down to look at the teenager.

“What’s going on, Pete?”

Peter kept his head turned away, even as he turned to dig out books from his ratty backpack. “Nothing, Mr. Stark--”

“Underoos.”

Peter’s jaw clenched, and then slowly he turned to look at his mentor and hero, who blinked owlishly for a long moment as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. Tony Stark was a genius, a billionaire, a reformed playboy, and a philanthropist, and had gone to boarding school and MIT well below the age of his peers. He had been bullied, despite the protection the Stark name gave him, but--

It was another thing to see Peter determinedly looking away from him, despite facing the man and seeing the heavy bruising from the black eye the teenager had.

“Peter…” Tony trailed off, somewhere stuck between furious and distantly horrified. He reached out and gently touched the non-bruised cheek, moving Peter’s head this way and that to look at it better. “When did this happen? Karen would’ve informed FRI, and she’d have informed me if this happened when you were in the suit--!”

“I wasn’t in the suit,” muttered Peter, eyes still focused somewhere over Tony’s shoulder.

Tony froze. “What?”

“I wasn’t in the suit,” he repeated, and this time, his brown eyes skittered at Tony’s face and then quickly away.

“You - as _Peter_? When?” stuttered Tony even as his heart tried to resume its normal tempo.

Mulishly, Peter pulled his face from Tony’s hands, moving back a bit and away from the projection table to the corner of the lab where a couch sat tucked into a far, poorly lit corner. “It’s already starting to heal, Tony, it’s fine--”

“It’s not fine, Pete--”

“It’s _healing_ \--”

“That’s not the point--” Tony stopped. “You were in school today, right?”

Peter froze, his back - all that Tony could see at the moment - stiffening as hypotheses and conclusions began to generate and form in Tony’s mind with dizzying bursts of comprehension. 

“Peter. Did this happen at school?”

“Umm…”

Tony rolled his eyes. _That would be a yes,_ he thought. Then: “Do you want to tell me what happened, or do I need to call Ted and get it from him?”

Peter yelped, turning quickly on his heel, and cried, “No - no, don’t call Ned--!”

Tony instead crossed his arms and leaned heavily against the table, quirking his eyebrows at the teenager as he waited for him to speak. He was actually surprised the look worked - which means he was getting a handle on the whole ‘mentor/mentee’ thing, he supposed - but Peter’s shoulders fell and Tony suppressed the sense of triumph he had in keeping Peter to speak to him.

“It’s not a big deal, Mr. Stark,” muttered Peter. “One of the freshmen was being shoved around a bit by the football team -- honestly, it’s a _STEM_ school, why do we even have sports teams? An outdoor track and field? - and I stepped in.”

Tony fought a smirk from his mouth and said, “Always looking out for the little guy, huh, Parker?”

Peter shrugged. 

“Alright, so what? A jock punched you?” continued Tony.

Peter nodded, a bit miserably. “After the freshman got away. I made sure they were focused on me. I might have insinuated something about brains versus brawn--”

Tony huffed a bit, trying to hide his laugh. “Yeah, okay, Pete. I get it.” He paused, and then asked, “So what were these bullies’ names?”

Peter levelled a frown at Tony. “No.”

“What?” asked Tony, deceptively lightly. He even buffed his fingernails on his shirt as he unfolded his arms. “Don’t I get to ask who is hurting my Spider-baby?”

Peter copied Tony’s pose, crossing his arms. “No, Mr. Stark. It doesn’t matter. You can’t know who they are. You’ll ruin their lives!”

“You really think so poorly of me, Pete?” asked Tony, eyes wide.

The teenager did not reply. 

“I’m hurt, Pete!” cried Tony, affecting a wounded tone. “It’s like you think I’d use my considerable intelligence, money, and power of the name Stark, and the brilliant F.R.I.D.A.Y., to do some nefarious deeds.”

“If you weren’t a superhero, Mr. Stark,” began Peter evenly, “I’d be worried.”

“Pete!” gasped Tony, but then he thought about it and admitted, “Yeah, okay. I can see that.” He shrugged and then asked, “Say, wanna blow some shit up?”

Peter’s eyes lit up and then he was rambling away, the conversation over in his mind. Tony moved Peter along, letting the kid decide what they were going to do in the lab that afternoon, certain that everything was forgotten between him and Tony regarding his black eye.

Tony was very, very good at faking things; and while he and Peter were close, Peter still didn’t know everything about Tony Stark -- and maybe, had he been looking closer, he would’ve seen the dark look in Tony’s eyes, the way that he was pleasant on the outside, but still furiously seething on the inside.

* * *

**Tony:** Hey, May, are you free Monday morning?

 **Aunt Hottie:** …

 **Aunt Hottie:** y?

 **Tony:** Need to go to Peter’s school. Can’t without you there.

 **Aunt Hottie:** Is he ok?

 **Tony** : Yes. 

**Aunt Hottie** : K. Pmu @ 730am

 **Tony:** what?

 **Aunt Hottie:** Pick me up at 730

 **Tony:** Right. See you then.

 **Aunt Hottie:** c u

* * *

“Do I even want to know what this is about?” was the first thing May asked when she slid into the backseat of the car idling outside the apartment complex. Tony was in the backseat, playing Angry Birds on his phone, but looked up when she slid in.

“I need to… handle something at Peter’s school, but they’re not going to let Tony Stark walk in and talk about him,” explained Tony, “Not without you there to back me up.”

May eyed Tony and then hummed. “Okay.”

Tony’s jaw clenched but he nodded, turning to Happy who caught his eye and smoothly pulled away from the curb. 

Tony spent the next few minutes pretending to look at his phone while watching May from the corner of his eye. It had only been a few months since the Vulture and Coney Island, as well as May learning about Peter’s activities as Spider-Man -- and Tony _emphatically_ knew how May felt about it. There had been a terse showdown at the Parker apartment following the revelation, and then, later, a very loud conversation that happened away from Peter between May and Tony, a week later, where several ground rules had been hashed out between the two.

Tony wasn’t quite sure what happened, and everything he agreed to, but somehow he ended up not just as Peter’s superhero mentor, but co-parenting the teenager with May Parker. May mostly handled the non-superhero bits and Tony the superhero bits, but sometimes there was overlap, especially as Peter was spending every other weekend in upstate New York at the Avengers Compound for training and lab time, working with Tony on his suits.

In the short, half a dozen trips Peter had made, their conversations had shifted from basic ‘getting to know you’ sorts to helping Peter with redundant school work, listening to him gush about Lego, and Ned - _Tony absolutely knew his name, he just liked messing with Peter_ \- and MJ, and Academic Decathlon, and churros, and cats in trees, and Peter’s thoughts on what flavour Slurpee from 7-11 was the best. 

And Tony thought that if he was going to be that involved in Peter’s life, then he was damn well going to be involved. So when Peter walked into the lab at the Compound with that black eye -- well. Tony wasn’t going to let that slide.

And somehow, he didn’t think May would, either.

Outside of Midtown Tech, May turned to Tony and asked, “Do we have an appointment?”

Tony nodded, slipping on a pair of shades as he exited the car with May. “I made it under your name though.”

The two walked through the empty halls - as the first period was currently happening for the students - and made their way unbothered toward administration. The secretary didn’t seem phased by May and Tony’s appearance, and Tony was hoping it was more that she didn’t recognize him. They waited only a few minutes and then were ushered into Principal Morita’s office.

“Ms. Parker, please, take a seat,” began Morita, gesturing at the two chairs in front of his desk. He turned to Tony, brows furrowed in confusion. “And, uh--”

Tony whipped off his sunglasses and gave the man a dry, sharp smile, perfected from dealing with paparazzi and press most of his life. “Principal Morita. Tony Stark - how do you do?”

Morita froze, partially leaning over the desk and moving to sit at once. His jaw dropped the tiniest amount, and Tony could practically _hear_ the man’s inner monologue as he rallied and went, _Okay. Okay, you’ve got this_.

Clearing his throat, the principal sat and glanced at May when speaking. “What can I help you with, today?”

“It’s about Peter,” began May. She then turned to Tony, expectantly. “Tony? You requested this meeting.”

“ _Mr. Stark_ did?” blinked Morita, turning to the man. “Er. Is this - is this about Peter’s internship?”

“Normally, I’d say yes, but not today,” began Tony, feeling the same fury rise in his stomach, as seething as it was on Friday when Peter walked into the lab with that black eye. It was all healed now, but - still. “Although I do appreciate that you recognize that Pete is my intern.”

Morita frowned, the tiniest bit as he tried to figure things out. “Of course…”

“No, what I want to discuss is why Peter came--” Tony caught himself before he uttered _home_ , and continued, “To the compound on Friday after school with a black eye.”

Beside him, May inhaled sharply. He glanced at her and shook his head the tiniest - letting her know it didn’t come from being Spider-Man. May’s lips thinned and she turned her unimpressed eyes toward Morita.

For his part, Jim Morita was trying to reconcile several facts at once: Peter’s internship with Tony Stark was real; Tony Stark was very involved in Peter’s life; and that Peter spent time after school at the Avengers Compound.

 _Okay, Jim; how to handle this…?_ the man thought, and then finally shrugged and decided to deal with May Parker and Tony Stark as he would any other students’ parents. But, looking at them and then tense frames, he amended, _well, maybe divorced parents_ …

“Ms. Parker, Mr. Stark,” he began, a serious look on his face, “Why don’t you back up and explain what happened and we’ll go from there?”

May and Tony shared a look, and then Tony turned back to Morita and began recounting what happened when Peter came to the lab, and what he said. When he was done, Morita was not pleased. 

“We’ll review the security footage,” he began. “If Peter is willing to give me the names of the students involved, if he knows them, or can describe them, we can start a process of learning who these students are.”

“I have the footage,” declared Tony, his body slowly relaxing. It looked like Morita was on the up-and-up, and wasn’t dismissing his concerns. 

Morita started at that sentence, though. “I - what? How?”

Should Tony say he hacked into the school? Best not. Instead, he placed his StarkPhone on the desk, screen facing up, and activated the holographic interface. The scene, as Peter described, began to play in grainy detail - but it was clear enough to see the faces of those involved.

Morita was watching the looped footage, although his eyes darted toward Tony and May a few times. The incident was clear from beginning to end, and after a few watch-throughs, Morita nodded. 

“Can I get a copy of this?” he asked.

Tony nodded, reaching out to deactivate the hologram. His voice was a bit terse when he asked, “What are you going to do about this?”

“With a copy of the footage, we can identify the students. They’ll be brought in and given an opportunity to explain themselves, but they’re probably looking at an in-school suspension,” explained Morita, turning away from where the hologram played. Both May and Tony seemed to relax at the explanation. “I’ll add a flag on their files, as well, in case these incidents happen again and bring it up at our next departmental meeting. We might consider having more teachers to monitor the halls between classes.”

He glanced between the two and asked, “Is that suitable?”

Tony sniffed and said, “It’s a start.”

May rolled her eyes and added, “What Tony means is, thank you. We appreciate you taking the time to investigate this thoroughly.”

“Well, we all want what’s best for Peter,” began Morita, glancing at Tony again, “And any of our other students. It was commendable that he went in to help a younger student who was being bullied.”

The office fell silent, with Morita watching Tony and May; Tony was fiddling with his phone while May was watching him contemplatively. Finally, she turned to Morita and asked, “Can we update Peter’s file?”

Morita frowned at the request, but nodded slowly, turning to his desktop. As he searched through the software and pulled up Peter Parker’s file, he said, “Sure. What are we updating?”

“I want to update Peter’s contact information.”

Morita hesitated from clicking the mouse on Peter’s information to edit, glancing from May to Tony, who was looking down at his phone and trying very hard to look like he wasn’t paying attention. Finally, Morita shrugged, clicking the edit button. “Alright.”

Then, May dropped the bomb on Tony. “Please add Tony as Peter’s secondary guardian.”

Tony actually fumbled his phone and it dropped to the carpet. “ _What?_ ”

May and Morita looked at him, but Morita quickly went back to the computer. May said, quietly, “Peter spends every other weekend with you. He’ll come to you about things he won’t with me. I know he’s had problems in the past with Flash, but that’s been going on for years--”

“What?” interrupted Tony, sitting up straight in the chair. “Who and what is Flash?”

“--But I’d never have known about the black eye,” she finished. “You said you want to help out, Stark, so this is you helping out.”

“I - wait - May --” there was the tiniest of whines at the end. “Helping out was like -- making sure the kid didn’t blow things up at yours. Or, or, making sure he didn’t _die_. Not, you know, be his _guardian_.”

Tony shuddered.

“Tony…”

He shook his head. “I’m not - May - I’m not the right person to look after a teenager. I mean, have you seen me?” he gestured toward himself. “I’m _Tony Stark_.”

May sniffed the tiniest bit, unimpressed, and stared down Tony. “You seem to be doing just fine to me. And half the time, being a _guardian_ of a teenager is just being there for them.”

Tony blinked a few times, and he _absolutely did not tear up at all_. He looked away and cleared his throat. Hoarsely, he muttered, “Fine.”

“What name should we put you under, Mr. Stark?” inquired Morita politely, pretending as though the last few minutes never happened. “I’m not under the impression that our servers are as secure as anything Stark Industries has, so if you’d prefer an alias or--”

“Anthony S is fine,” muttered Tony, and then he rattled off his private phone number and email.

After updating the file, Morita paused and hesitantly began, “Would you allow me to bring this up with the other teachers at our next meetings? In case anything happens during class? I’ll stress the need and importance for privacy.”

 _It’s for Peter,_ thought Tony, and he nodded. 

“Alright.” Morita stood, extending a hand toward May first to shake. “I appreciate that you both took the time to come here and bring this issue to my attention.” He turned to shake Tony’s hand. “And I’ll keep you both updated on what happens, as much as I can.”

“Thank you, Principal Morita,” said May, graciously.

Tony echoed the sentiment, but his eyes stopped on a picture on top of a filing cabinet. Morita followed his eyes and gave a tiny laugh. 

“My grandfather,” he said. “I’m named after him.”

“Morita,” murmured Tony, turning back to the principal. “James Morita, one of Steve’s Howling Commandos?”

Morita nodded. 

“Huh,” said Tony. He paused, but then nodded at the principal and followed May out of the office, silent as they returned to the car.

It was only as Happy pulled up to the Parker apartment complex that May turned to him. “You could’ve said no.”

“You kind of hijacked me in front of him,” argued Tony, although without heat. “I couldn’t turn that down.”

May shrugged. “We both know _Tony Stark_ could’ve.” She eyed him, something softening her face. “But Tony wouldn’t.”

Tony blinked, and May stepped out, leaning over just the tiniest to peer back into the car. “You’re a good man, Tony. Thanks for looking out for Peter.”

“Of course,” he automatically replied, mouth moving before his brain processed it. “It’s Pete.”

May grinned and shut the door. 

“Where to, boss?” asked Happy, glancing at him from the rearview mirror.

“Compound, Happy.”

“Got it.”

* * *

Much, much later, after several inspired hours on improving the safety features on the next generation suit design - designated Iron Spider - that Tony was working on for Peter, he received an email from Morita, directed at him and May.

 _The students involved have all received a two-day in-school suspension, as we discussed,_ the man wrote, _and have been very sternly spoken to about bullying the other students. We will keep an eye on them going forward. I hope this suffices_.

The fury that had been present, although often pushed aside over the weekend was gone, and Tony’s stomach was no longer roiling. The ache in his left arm was gone, as well, and he breathed a sigh of relief. 

Then he received a text message from the teenager himself.

_Hey, so, hypothetically_

_If someone was stabbed_

_Not saying I am or anything_

_Could my webs stop the bleeding?_

_...._

_It’s for science._

Tony groaned. 

_You fix one thing,_ he thought, turning away from the Iron Spider toward his nano suit. 

As it encased him, his HUD located Spider-Man’s location, even as FRIDAY began interfacing with Karen. He moved to the compound’s heliport, engaging his repulsors, and took off.

This wasn’t quite what he signed up for at the beginning when he brought Spider-Man to Leipzig, but… He was the kid’s secondary guardian, right? Then he’d live up to that title, now that May made it official. Between Spider-Man, lab time, punches, and apparently stab wounds… If this was what it evolved into and if that meant Tony was going to continue to blur between mentor and -- something _else_ \-- so be it. 

Tony would be there for Peter.

* * *

FIN


End file.
